In his 40 minutes on the witness stand, Carmen Marrone described a Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission that, at the very least, lacked any intellectual curiosity about how multi-million dollar contracts were awarded.

Marrone introduced himself as the turnpike's Director of Operations for the eastern half of the state from 1998 until 2008. His son, a former aide to convicted state Sen. Vince Fumo, got him the job. His position included a spot on the turnpike's technical review committee, which was in charge of recommending which engineering firms should receive work from the roadway.

"I voted what he told me to do," Marrone said in a disinterested South Philly accent.

When he couldn't attend the meetings in person, Marrone testified he would join on a teleconference. He never cast a vote on those conference calls. Once they ended, Marrone would call Hatalowich back and ask him if he needed to do anything.

"I'll take care of that," Hatalowich would respond, according to Marrone.

Another defendant, former Turnpike Commission CEO Joe Brimmeier, was also on the technical review committee at that time. Marrone said he believed Brimmeier and Hatalowhich always voted the same way. When asked if that bothered the turnpike chief engineer, Marrone replied: "He always looked upset. There was no way to tell how he was."

During cross-examination Marrone was asked how he ranked projects before Hatalowich was promoted to COO.

"I just voted," he said.

In those four years, "Did he learn anything at all about the vendors?"

Ralph Bailets, the turnpike's former manager of financial reports and systems, spent 90 minutes detailing what saw was excessive technology spending under pressure of turnpike officals.

Bailets -- who is suing the turnpike for wrongful termination -- said he became concerned when Colorado-based consulting firm Ciber, Inc., was allowed to bid on a 2005 project after it did the feasibility study for that contract. With almost unfettered access to Turnpike documents, documents the turnpike placed limits on other contracts viewing, Ciber had an unfair advantage in the bidding process, Bailets said.

Bailets' concerns were ignored and Ciber eventually won the work.

It hired technology firm Smart Associates as a subcontractor. That's notable for two reasons, Bailets testified. Smart originally bid on the entire contract, and firms that did so were not supposed to be able to do subcontracting work. Smart had also been rejected on an earlier bid for different work.

After that rejection, Bailets was told Rubin wanted to see a point-by-point summary of why Smart had been rejected. Bailets said it was the only time he was aware of a commissioner taking such an interest in a rejected bid.

As time went on, Bailets' concerns mounted. Some he shared, some he kept to himself after seeing an IT worker demoted with a pay-cut for being critical of Ciber's work. When Brimmeier became CEO, Bailets testified, he told the staff, "you're going to do things my way or you're going to be out of here."

It was clear, Bailets testified, that Hatalowich had a friendly relationship with Ciber vice president Dennis Miller, another defendant in the turnpike case. Miller had an office inside the turnpike headquarters, though Bailets said Miller didn't appear to be involved in the "nuts and bolts" of Ciber's work.

"He dealt with the upper echelon," Bailets said. "He was very visible at Commissioners' meetings, with officials and senior executives."

Ciber had trouble with employee turnover, Bailets said. Consultants and subcontractors were always leaving, and the turnpike paid to bring their replacements up to speed. Ciber also wasn't training turnpike employees how to take over the computer system it had been hired to install, which was part of the original contract. He said he warned the IT department that unless that training started, "it will be another long contract for Ciber."

As it was, Ciber's original contract grew was amended to grow from $3 million to more than $62 million. Bailets said he had never seen such a large amendment for work. In total, the turnpike paid Ciber $82.2 million for three contracts.

The defense will cross-examine Bailets this afternoon.

Disappointed engineers

Also testifying Tuesday morning was Robert Frank Brady, Marrone's successor and son of Congressman Bob Brady.

While he was on the technical committee, Brady said Hatalowich never told him how to rank competing firms. Sometimes, in the meetings, Brady said, Hatalowich would recommend a firm for work that the engineering staff had not recommended. That firm would almost always be on the short list of firms recommended to the commissioners for final approval, Brady said.

"Maybe three times," Brady said, the engineering staff was disappointed with those additions.

Once, Hatalowich called Brady after a committee meeting and said the vote had been a tie. He asked Brady to change his vote to break the tie, Brady said, though Hatalowich did not say how Brady should vote. Brady was reticent and Hatalowich did not ask further, Brady said.

Instead, the committee met again, because the commissioners wanted a clear order of preferences. They voted again, Brady said. This time there was not a tie, though Brady said he did not change his vote.

Hatalowich's attorney asked Brady if he felt Hatalowich had corrupt motivations for requesting firms were added to the engineers recommended list. Brady said no.

COMING LATER TODAY: More coverage on PennLive of the preliminary hearing into the Pennsylvania Turnpike pay-to-play scandal

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